Solway Investment Company Mine

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February 2, 2024


** Mayan Q'eqchi' fishermen and a Qʼeqchiʼ journalist were freed after being criminalized for 6 years by Solway Investment Group's subsidiary in Guatemala
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Who will pay reparations to the victims for the damages and costs of these seven years of "criminalization"?
When will serious reforms to the administration of justice be implemented so that the sectors of power cannot use it as a tool for repression?

Innocent: Judge closes criminalization case against three fishermen and a community journalist
By Paolina Albani, January 31, 2024
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The intermediate stage hearing was scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, January 31, in which the Criminal Court of Puerto Barrios, Izabal, would decide whether the accused would be released or sent to trial for the crimes of illegal detention, threats, instigation to commit a crime and illicit association.

The hearing began an hour later. With almost two hours of delay. While waiting outside the courtroom, the three fishermen and the Mayan Q'eqchi' community journalist from El Estor, Carlos Choc, talked with their lawyers and feared that the hearing, once again, would be suspended due to the absence of the lawyer for Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel (CGN), [a subsidiary of the Swiss company Solway Investment Group].

However, after the wait, the hearing began. There, Judge Aníbal Arteaga not only accepted the request made by the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) to annul the charges for lack of evidence, but also stopped the coercive measures imposed against the accused, who were linked to process in January 2019 ([link removed]) , and then obtained substitutive measures that obliged them to go to the MP headquarters in El Estor every 30 days to sign a book of minutes.

Upon leaving the hearing, they celebrated the closure of the case, but also a period in which criminalization has prevented them from living normally, and even, in which they have been excluded from the community for opposing the mine.

"Today, a process in which we have been suffering at the hands of the company has come to an end. We closed a story in which we were beaten by the persecution and criminalization we have received for 7 years. It is a historic day," said Cristóbal Pop, president of the Artisanal Fishermen's Union (GPA), who was accompanied by other members who were criminalized at the beginning of the process, such as Eduardo Suram.

"I was needing to have that freedom. It was exhausting for me and my family... I think an important role was played by the people who were bought by the company and by those who declared me non grata, but it was important to defend the resources of the beautiful lake of Izabal," Pop added.

"The MP established that the members of the guild - of artisanal fishermen - were defending Lake Izabal from the ravages of the mining company and established that it is an internationally recognized exercise, for which they could not be prosecuted.

This is a clear precedent for the defense of rights and in the case of the journalist Choc, who was doing journalistic coverage at the time of the events falsely accused by the mining company at the time. Now, his innocence is maintained", said Rafael Maldonado, lawyer for the fishermen of El Estor, Izabal.

Journalist Choc said that this day was important not only because of the access to justice, which allowed the case against him to be closed, but also because of the recognition given to the fishermen in the defense of Lake Izabal.

"It took more than seven years for a sentence to be handed down," was the immediate reaction of Héctor Reyes, Choc's lawyer on behalf of the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH). "The request made four years ago by the Public Prosecutor's Office was accepted, in the sense that there was no crime to prosecute them, but that it had not been done due to several absences of the company's lawyer. Today, the dismissal of the case and the measures against Carlos and his fellow fishermen are lifted. Now, he can exercise his informative work and his right to denounce what is happening in El Estor, as well as in other places in Guatemala".

The fishermen and the journalist hugged their lawyers as they left the Criminal Court of Puerto Barrios, after the judge's decision to release them.
Three fishermen and journalist Carlos Choc with the defense attorney. Photo by Juan Bautista Xol

How the criminalization case began

In May 2017, GPA fishermen witnessed the appearance of a red patch with a greasy texture and ferrous odor on Lake Izabal. One kilometer from the mine plant. Days later, they noticed the corpses of several aquatic species floating on the surface.

As a result, fishermen took to the streets in peaceful demonstration, to demand the closure of CGN's nickel mine.

The government of Jimmy Morales said it tried to initiate a dialogue process, but the fishermen said they were excluded from the tables. So they persisted in their demand.

Within hours, the government mobilized riot police to the site, to push them back and regain control of the main road to El Estor, which is the same road that provides access to the mining plant.

The brutality of the police took the life of one of the fishermen: Carlos Maaz. It is here where Choc's role becomes relevant, because as one of the community journalists covering the events, he was the only one who captured the moment when the police shot Maaz. ([link removed])

The death and excessive police force put an end to the demonstration and shortly after, 12 people, including fishermen, merchants and the journalist Choc, were denounced by the mine.

The MP's argument was that they blocked a road and detained mine workers, but by 2019, the investigating body had changed its position by asking the Puerto Barrios court to close the case for lack of evidence.

Judge Arteaga, who has ruled in favor of the mining company on other occasions, refused and gave the Prosecutor's Office two more months to search for the necessary evidence, exclusively against Choc and the fishermen Pop, Che and Rax.

Those two months were extended to seven years, due to the constant suspension of the hearings. Mainly due to the absence of the mine's lawyer or due to Arteaga's rescheduling.

But this January 31, with the closing of the investigation, seven years of criminalization by a false denunciation of CGN, owned by Solway Group, also ended.

More information

Prensa Comunitaria: @PrensaComunitaria, [link removed]

Lawyer Rafael Maldonado (Constitutional Court decision, suspending Solway mining operation): [email protected], [link removed]

Journalist Carlos Ernesto Choc: [email protected], [link removed], [link removed]

“Mining Secrets”: Internal corporate documents of Solway Investment Group mining
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TESTIMONIO-Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala
Edited by Catherine Nolin (UNBC) and Grahame Russell (Rights Action)
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Rights Action work in mining-harmed territories of Maya Q’eqchi’ people

Since 2004, Rights Action has supported land and rights defenders in this region. Since 2017, Rights Action has supported the Gremial de Pesacadores, including support for them throughout this entire “criminalization” abuse of the legal system.

The Maya Q’eqchi’ people appear condemned to suffer ever more human rights violations and evictions, environmental harms and corruption caused by yet another global mining company operating an illegitimate mine on stolen lands.

Tax-Deductible Donations (Canada & U.S.)

To support land and environmental defenders, and human rights, justice and democracy defense struggles in Honduras and Guatemala, make check to "Rights Action" and mail to:
* U.S.: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
* Canada: Box 82858, RPO Cabbagetown Toronto, ON, M5A 3Y2

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Direct deposits, write to: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
Donations of securities, write to: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

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